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Officials To Round Up Feral Cats, Reduce Flea Population To Stave Off OC Typhus Threat
CBS) ^ | May 29, 2012 10:23 AM

Posted on 05/29/2012 1:53:58 PM PDT by BenLurkin

SANTA ANA (CBS) — Vector control officials plan to try Tuesday to corral feral cats living on the campuses of two Santa Ana schools in an effort to reduce the flea population and stave off the spread of typhus, a potentially deadly disease.

Santa Ana officials announced last week that someone living near Broadway and Washington Avenue in Santa Ana was hospitalized with typhus last month but has since recovered. City spokesman Jose Gonzalez underscored this morning that the victim had no connection with any local schools.

Orange County Vector Control officials have been passing out literature to residents in the area on avoiding getting the disease, which primarily is transmitted by fleas, Gonzalez said.

“The issue here is the person lives in close proximity to two schools and because there are feral cats on the school grounds,” Gonzalez said.

Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said vector control officials will lay traps today at Frances E. Willard Intermediate School in the 1300 block of North Ross Street and El Sol Science and Arts Academy in the 1000 block of North Broadway.

He said the workers would be wearing hazard suits with masks and that residents should not be alarmed.

Vector control officials have set multiple traps in the area and have caught possums, but none of the feral cats known to be in the area, Gonzalez said. If caught, the feral cats will be sedated and euthanized.

City officials advised residents to treat their pets with flea-prevention medication and eliminate places where wild animals can find shelter and food.

Symptoms usually surface a week or two weeks after exposure and can include high fever, headaches, chills, body aches and pains and a rash. Typhus is treated with antibiotics. It can be fatal if left untreated.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: california; feralcats; health; santaana; typhus
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1 posted on 05/29/2012 1:54:03 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

Poor opossums.. They better not kill them!


2 posted on 05/29/2012 1:56:30 PM PDT by GeorgeWashingtonsGhost
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To: BenLurkin

I live in Orange County. I hadn’t heard about the threat of typhus. We have a huge population of fruit rats in the county. They have fleas too. I would think the feral cats would help to keep the fruit rat population down.


3 posted on 05/29/2012 2:03:14 PM PDT by passionfruit (When illegals become legal, even they won't do the work Americans won't do)
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To: BenLurkin
Reintroduction of turd world diseases, courtesy of your friends at the democRAT and republiCRAT, two party traitor alliance.
4 posted on 05/29/2012 2:04:08 PM PDT by nomad
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To: BenLurkin
Vector control officials have set multiple traps in the area and have caught possums, but none of the feral cats known to be in the area, Gonzalez said. If caught, the feral cats will be sedated and euthanized.

Ironically, possums are more likely to spread disease than feral cats. Besides, apparently the cats are a lot smarter, being natural predators.

5 posted on 05/29/2012 2:04:54 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: BenLurkin

I suppose it would be too much to ask these scumbags to close the border before more turd world treats get back into these United States?


6 posted on 05/29/2012 2:06:49 PM PDT by nomad
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To: BenLurkin

Why do the vector control officials think that a third world disease was brought in by feral cats?


7 posted on 05/29/2012 2:08:51 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: passionfruit
Betcha some PAIN IN THE A** person got bitten or her CAT/DOG got bitten by said feral cat so now she is on the warpath to get rid of those useful cats.

Betcha.

8 posted on 05/29/2012 2:10:33 PM PDT by cloudmountain
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To: BenLurkin

Would you please give the link to this article, thank you.
This article is one I would like to link to the source as gathering info. on feral cats.


9 posted on 05/29/2012 2:15:48 PM PDT by mojo114 (Pray for our military)
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To: BenLurkin

Hmmm. Santa Ana, the city with 90% illegal aliens??


10 posted on 05/29/2012 2:16:21 PM PDT by Yaelle
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To: Jack Hydrazine
Why do the vector control officials think that a third world disease was brought in by feral cats?

I can think of three reasons.
1. There is a Chinese family restaurant in the neighborhood that uses ALL sorts of creatures for the "chow mein"--as neighbors notice the disappearance of stray whatevers.
2 There is a Chinese family in the neighborhood that DOESN'T frequent the local butcher. 'Nuff said.
3. The vector control is nuts.

The Chinese immigrants DID bring us bubonic plague because the plague DID get its start in China.

11 posted on 05/29/2012 2:18:36 PM PDT by cloudmountain
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To: BenLurkin

Cats spread toxoplasmosis which is now proven to change human brains and personality.

Kill them.


12 posted on 05/29/2012 2:21:56 PM PDT by Bon mots ("When seconds count, the police are just minutes away...")
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To: GeorgeWashingtonsGhost

How did they narrow it down to these cats and these fleas?

Did they find typhus in the feral cat area?

I mean you can have a flea hop on you while you’re at WalMart, so how do they know it came from that particular area?

I’ve noticed that some cats that live outside are more prone to ticks than fleas ; I think it’s because they don’t make very good hosts.They may have a flea here or there, but for some reason, they are not infested. Kittens I have seen infested and I think it’s because they have such a high body temp and fleas are drawn to heat.

I have cared for feral colonies-catching them, fixing them, trying to care for them, and fleas were never a big issue. Except for the kittens. So I’m really curious how they discovered this.

For you cat lovers (or not), my feral colonies are long gone. Once you fix them, you stop the colony from growing and they don’t live very long in the wild-even with rabies and other vaccines they might live 4-5 years. They are domesticated and aren’t meant to live in the woods or in old buildings.
We took in the last group of kittens that survived-that was about 9-10 years ago and we just lost one of them last weekend.


13 posted on 05/29/2012 2:25:22 PM PDT by homegroan (Veni, Vedi, Velcro....since 1998)
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To: Bon mots
Cats spread toxoplasmosis which is now proven to change human brains and personality.

DEMOCATS ?


14 posted on 05/29/2012 2:29:18 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: passionfruit

The cats are a scape goat. The Government in it’s infinite lack of wisdom will kill the cats then freak out as rats and other vermin make inroads into the area due to a predator being removed. Then the health situation will really tank and the Government will blame Bush or someone.

Instead of killing the cats and eliminating a predator of vermin in the area, there are other means to remove a large portion of the fleas and such.

Why haven’t they looked into that?

Freaking idiots.


15 posted on 05/29/2012 2:29:49 PM PDT by BCR #226 (02/07 SOT www.extremefirepower.com...The BS stops when the hammer drops.)
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To: homegroan

I agree. I don’t buy this ‘cats are the culprit’ bullcr*p either.


16 posted on 05/29/2012 2:31:50 PM PDT by GeorgeWashingtonsGhost
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To: cloudmountain

I believe it was Genghis Khan who brought the bubonic plague to Europe.


17 posted on 05/29/2012 2:33:22 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: cloudmountain

What about all the birds they kill?


18 posted on 05/29/2012 2:34:32 PM PDT by aliquando (A Scout is T, L, H, F, C, K, O, C, T, B, C, and R.)
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To: Jack Hydrazine
I believe it was Genghis Khan who brought the bubonic plague to Europe.

Well, Genghis Khan brought it to Turkey. He stopped there. The Italians brought it over from Turkey to the European mainland.

RATS -- they all allowed rats to infest their lives.

19 posted on 05/29/2012 2:36:22 PM PDT by cloudmountain
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To: BenLurkin

According to Wikipedia, it’s lice that are the vector, not fleas.


20 posted on 05/29/2012 2:37:22 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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